Sunday, July 08, 2007

Gag gift. Literally.

Last week I visited my freewheeling Unitarian parents in Minneapolis. Without fail going back to the house where I was born and spent my entire life propels me instantly back to my adolescence: I start raiding the fridge for ice cream, staying up late and talking on the phone, and rummaging through my parents' drawers. I'm not proud of these fiendish adolescent behaviors, I'm just trying to contextualize the photo pictured above. Now, I can safely say that I could have gone my entire life not knowing about this particular knitted garment and been perfectly happy. But no, my childish impulses had to get the best of me, and this is what I find. Luckily my mom is an open sort who gets a huge kick out of my 'hissy fits', and she was delighted to see my reaction of revulsion and disgust. She told me that it was a gag gift that someone had given my dad in the '70s. Gag gift indeed. Well luckily it's never too late for therapy, right?

Many, many years ago, a similar item showed up at a family reunion as a Bingo prize. It had to have come from THAT side of the family. (THAT side is the side you are not on when these things happen.) I recall a jingle bell as well. Blech! One has to ask why these things are kept in draws after lo these many years...

Pretty hilarious. I had a conversation (with my therapist) recently about that teenager-regression-thing. It drives me crazy the way my parents drive me crazy like I'm 13 and HATE THEM OMG I HATE THEM. you know. So to discover something like this while in the throes of throw-back... My sympathies are with you.

Okay. When I first saw the picture, I thought that you had knitted it for a friend's bachelorette party. Then, I see it was your father's?!? Now that is impresive--that, and the fact that he kept it for all of these years. Now, who was the lady who knit it for him??? Could it be your mother?

Alright. Clearly the bell has some kind of importance or function. Perhaps it serves in some kind of ceremonial capacity. Or maybe it's more of a Pavlov's dog arrangement. Let's break into groups and discuss, shall we?

Hahaha. That is funny and scary all at the same time. For some reason, I saw the bell and thought of someone dancing about with it on. Y'know, lots of hopping about and wiggling of hips. Okay. I'll stop now but hahahaha. Thanks for sharing!